Donald Trump’s campaign wants to reschedule two of the presidential debates on the ground that they are taking place on the same nights as NFL games.
“Our position on the debates is we want as many people, as many voters, to be participants in and to see the debates as possible,” said Jason Miller, the senior communications adviser to the Trump campaign.
The Commission on Presidential Debates firmly asserted on Sunday afternoon that it has no intention of changing the dates. “CPD believes the dates for the 2016 debates will serve the American public well.”
In fact, it is not the first time presidential debates are scheduled on the same nights as football games. The last time it happened was in 2012.
Hillary Clinton’s campaign chair John Podesta issued a statement on Twitter saying: “This is just more Trump debate malarkey.” “We will be at the debates set by the bipartisan debate commission and expect he will too.”
Trump argues that the scheduled time is not fair and that it prevents many American from viewing the debate. He accused the Democratic party of “trying to rig the debates.” However, it is not the Democratic party that schedule them; It is a nonpartisan commission, the same operating for three decades. The committee announced the debate dates in September 2015, long before they knew who will be the official nominees.
The commission implied that the debate should be considered more important than NFL games, for they happened less often.
“The [CPD] started working more than 18 months ago to identify religious and federal holidays, baseball league playoff games, NFL games, and other events to select the best nights for the 2016 debates,” the group said. “It is impossible to avoid all sporting events, and there have been nights on which debates and games occurred in most election cycles. A debate has never been rescheduled as a result.”
Trump said that he received a letter from the NFL, expressing their discontent. The NFL denied it sent a message to Donald Trump. NFL’s spokesman said: ”While we’d obviously wish the debate commission could find another night, we did not send a letter to Trump.”
No candidate in modern times declined to participate in a debate before. Will Donald J. Trump be the first?
